Kari Ann Rinker is a former State Coordinator and Lobbyist for Kansas NOW. She has testified in numerous legislative hearings on issues ranging from the State ERA, Domestic Violence, Voter ID and Reproductive Rights.
Since the assassination of Dr. George Tiller, Kari Ann has devoted much of her time toward grassroots activism and legislative action for women’s access to safe and legal abortion. Kari Ann been a visible force in both Kansas and National media speaking out on women's issues effecting Kansas. She has appeared on MSNBC's Rachel Maddow and the Lawrence O'Donnell Shows, NPR and been quoted in the Los Angeles Times. She traveled to Nebraska to help defend the clinic of Dr. Leroy Carhart in 2009 and again to his clinic in Maryland 2011.
She has a B.S. in Organizational Management and Leadership from Friends University and a Masters of Public Administration and a certificate in Nonprofit Management from Wichita State University.

A Federal judge will allow crisis pregnancy centers to enter a lawsuit that the ACLU and Planned Parenthood have filed against the State of South Dakota. The lawsuit was brought against the state in response to legislation passed that makes a visit to a crisis pregnancy center mandatory before receiving an abortion.

If South Dakota provides us with any indication, it looks like 2012 will most likely be a sad repeat of 2011. Just one state among many that contributed to the drastic and unprecedented increase in abortion provisions attempted and enacted at the state level during 2011. Another state clamoring for the chance to regulate, harass and restrict abortion out of extinction within its borders.

Until a change of course is demanded in the state of Kansas, our elected oppressors will no doubt continue to spend their time, energy, resources and taxpayer money in the never-ending pursuit of being the first state to eliminate abortion and even some forms of contraception through the eradication of access, while saddling the taxpayers with an ideological debt.

The sorrow from the loss of a woman like Jana and the prospect of losing other Janas is sobering to a strong woman. It is a stark reminder that there are some things that are simply out of any one woman’s control.

Today’s news about our own Kathleen Sebelius’ overruling the FDA on EC for youth in need of pregnancy prevention is cause for a second continuous day for disappointment. This act serves as one more nail in the women’s rights coffin… jointly constructed by the Republican AND Democratic Party. As a lifelong, 3rd generation Democrat, I feel like a red-headed stepchild born of two blond parents, slightly out of place and wondering to whom I really belong.

When she was Governor of Kansas, Kathleen Sebelius was a backstop for the pro-choice community on many anti-choice bills. However, she was also known to play a little politics with women’s health. Let’s hope that she doesn’t choose this issue to toss to the rabid dog Bishops as some kind of “pro-life” contraceptive Scooby Snack.

What young women need (beyond the obvious need for greater access to low cost birth control and improved sex education in schools) is a boost to their self-esteem, mentors, and to be told that they possess greatness within themselves beyond what can be obtained by any man, babies, money, drugs or alcohol. They sure don’t need the condescending and biased advice of Sam Brownback and the Heritage Foundation.

Governor Brownback’s policies are designed to favor the likes of the Kochs, not the kids of Kansas. His “town halls” are further proof of the control that our governor demands over every interaction, every policy and every man, woman and child within Kansas boundaries.

I have to say that while many of my other Wichita friends and acquaintances are excited about the development of a new drama inspired by Dr. Tiller’s life, I remain skeptical. Will it depict the integrity by which he lived?

A professional ethics panel recommended Thursday that former Kansas Attorney General Phill Kline–who incessantly harassed Dr. George Tiller–have his state law license suspended indefinitely over his conduct during criminal investigations of abortion providers.